The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Tuesday 19 May 2009

In the article below about Shane Lowry's stellar performance at the Irish Open we mistakenly said that the young golfer was from the west of Ireland. In fact he is from the province of Leinster in the east, and specifically County Offaly, where his home golf club is Esker Hills.

Before a ball was struck at this Irish Open the talk was all about which Irishman could win. Padraig Harrington, naturally, led the way although the triple major champion was closely pursued in any vox pop by Rory McIlroy. No one mentioned Shane Lowry, not even in his own home.

Yet this ancient title is there for the taking by this 22-year-old amateur from the west of Ireland who is ranked No2 in Europe and is a shoo-in for the Walker Cup come September after which this son of a Gaelic football legend will turn professional. He followed an opening 67 at the County Louth club with a 62 , a round studded with a couple of chip-ins and a lot of fine putting.

Naturally, he says he feels as though he is dreaming. He was also worried about his car, parked earlier in the muddy chaos that the surrounding fields to this place have become after 48 hours of serious rain. "No, no one offered me a courtesy car," he said. "Maybe they will now."

Harrington was offered a car, of course, but preferred to take a helicopter in from his Dublin home each day. He can save on the fuel now after missing the four-under-par cut by a stroke, his season of disappointment continuing to ebb rather than to flow. At least McIlroy made it. Five under, he still has an outside chance although he had to concede early honours to his playing partner, Colin Montgomerie, the older man outscoring the tyro by a couple of shots after a 65.

With Lowry on 15 under par, two shots ahead of the English journeymen Jamie Donaldson and Robert Rock and a quality pack not far behind, this championship is offering a nervy climax to things over the weekend. Leading the quality section is Paul Lawrie, the great, and almost forgotten talent, of the European Tour.

The 1999 Open champion also had the sweetest of days. First, his score, 66, was terrific even if the tees had been moved up and his afternoon draw enjoyed benign, dry conditions to go with excellent, damp and therefore receptive, greens.

Second he sealed this particular deal with a hole in one at the 196-yard 17th, hitting "a beautiful shot, just a perfect six iron". Third, this hole-in-one brought him the bonus of a convertible worth 40,000 euros.

While the hole in one remains an achievement wrapped in good fortune this was a round Lawrie has been waiting patiently for over the last few months. He says he is now striking the ball better than when he won The Open a decade ago but also admits that his short game is not quite as keen as it was back then. "I am definitely swinging it better and more consistently but I scored better back then."

Graeme McDowell, too, is "swinging it good". The Ulsterman showed what was possible when he recovered from an opening 77 to comfortably make the weekend. This he did with a five birdie-one eagle start and a round that eventually included another four birdies and just one bogey in a stunning 61.

This 11-under score is, naturally, a course record, beating the 63 set yesterday by Francesco Molinari. Yesterday the Italian shot a 73 but it might as well have been 103 as he was then disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard, two of his hole scores having been transposed. If this was daft, it was overtaken in the idiot stakes by Michael Hoey's DQ after he discovered he had been playing with 15 clubs in his bag.